Police make arrests as coach bound for Bibby Stockholm leaves without migrants after Peckham mob thwart efforts - as Gen Z activists continue to target asylum seeker hotels

Police have arrested a number of people today as a coach bound for the Bibby Stockholm barge left without migrants after a mob blocked its path. 

Gen Z protesters answered calls to descend on Peckham, south-east London, as beanie-hat wearing activists arrived on Lime bikes and dumped them in front of the coach. 

Scotland Yard confirmed this afternoon they had arrested a number of people for offences including obstruction of the highway, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence. The force did not specify how people had been taken into custody. 

Scuffles earlier broke out between officers and protesters as police formed a ring of steel around the coach and forcibly removed activists from the road and placing them into the back of vans.  

The activists appear to be targeting other hotels in the capital with another post on X asking people to head to a location in Hounslow, west London, saying 'we need numbers now!'. 

The Met Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan warned the force would continue to take decisive action when needed. 

'My officers had warned the group that obstructing the highway, and obstructing police, are criminal offences an that they could be arrested,' he said. 

'We will always respect the right to peaceful protest but we have been clear that where there is serious disruption and criminality then we will take decisive action.' 

Some Covid-mask wearing protesters formed a human chain around the vehicle designer clothes clad demonstrators smoked roll-ups, gorged on Haribo and swigged Magnum tonic wine as they sat in front of it.

In one clip, an officer can be seen pushing a man who is thrown back violently onto the road whilst in another a female police officer is seen wrestling with a masked cyclist who allegedly assaulted a TV news team on location. 

This assailant is believed to have escaped on a bike and many other protesters are actively resisting their arrests.  

The protest began shortly after 8am this morning when activists formed a human chain before letting down its tyres and hurling Lime bikes under its path to prevent it leaving. 

The driver of the coach was 'shaken up' by the incident and has been escorted out of the vehicle. 

Hordes of young people answered calls on social media to attend the event which was organised in part by  Soas Detainee Support. 

A post on X by the extreme left organisation reads: 'Comrades have stopped our friends being taken to the Bibby barge - but more numbers needed!'

Activists are also planning to block coaches leaving from three other hotels in London where asylum seekers are being held. 

The migrants scheduled to be moved to the government's floating compound in Dorset have been told to remain in the Best Western hotel until the situation has been resolved.  

It is believed the coach was set to collect other passengers on its route to Dorset. 

The asylum seekers had  been told they would be collected on Thursday morning by coach to relocate to the Bibby Stockholm moored at Portland in Dorset.

Defending the police response, Home Secretary James Cleverly said: 'Housing migrants in hotels costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds every day.

'We will not allow this small group of students, posing for social media, to deter us from doing what is right for the British public.'

Explaining their actions, one protester said: 'We are trying to stop police deporting migrants.

'These are human beings who don't deserve to be moved around like cattle. It's state-sponsored human trafficking, that's why we are here.

'Today they are moving them to Bibby Stockholm. We are going to block the method of transporting them.

'We will find any way to stop the coach from moving, whatever that looks like.'

Residents were not so happy however. 

One local woman told MailOnline: 'It has disrupted our day, we were wondering why there are so many police officers. 

'We've just come from voting. Some of those people are true refugees but the majority I think are not.

'It is frustrating, I don't know how they organise themselves but it's nothing do do with us.'

Another agreed, saying: 'What is this for? It's not needed. All of these people are not from Peckham.

'I live right round there and when I came outside to buy food this is here - it woke me up in the morning.

'This is not needed. Do it somewhere else.'

When asked how long she will stay the protester, who did not want to be named, added :'As long as I can manage with my job.

'Community action is the only way we will stop this awful laws to be stopped. Just because something is legal doesn't make it moral. Just because something is illegal doesn't make it immoral. '

Kojo Kyerewaa, a coordinator for the protest, told the Guardian: 'Our friends who are at a Home Office hotel got notification that they were going to be taken to the Bibby Stockholm today.

'We know that the residents don't want to leave and we know that the Bibby Stockholm is a dangerous place to put anyone.

'It's unsanitary and one person has taken their own life being there and there's been multiple attempts of suicide by people told that they're going to the Bibby Stockholm.'

According to Kyerewaa, the protest was inspired by a similar one in Margate last week, where a coach was prevented from taking 22 asylum seekers to the barge.

 Commenting on the disruption, a spokesman for the Home Office said: 'Accommodation is allocated to asylum seekers on a no-choice basis and asylum seekers can make representations if they believe they are unsuitable to be moved to the Bibby Stockholm. 

'These are considered in full before any decision is made.

'We continue to deliver our plans to significantly reduce the use of asylum hotels, closing 150 by beginning of May, and work closely with accommodation providers to manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on local authorities and asylum seekers alike.'

No10 said that Home Office officials should be allowed to carry out removals freely and backed police to use their 'operational powers where necessary if they felt they needed to act'.

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman told reporters: 'We are clear that we will be delivering our Rwanda plan … detentions have begun and the Home Office has got a significant operational team carrying out those detentions and will continue to do so as we prepare for the first flights to get off the ground by early July.

'The PM's message would be that the reason we have introduced this scheme is because we want to provide a deterrent and stop the people smuggling gangs from exploiting people and risking lives as people make these dangerous journeys across the Channel. We want to put an end to that.

'He would urge people to allow Home Office enforcement officers to carry out their duties and we fully support the authorities and the police to ensure the operation can be carried out successfully.'

The action follows a series of Home Office operations that saw dozens of migrants  set to be deported to Rwanda detained.

The Home Office said a series of operations took place across the country this week, with more activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks.

Officials have not yet said how many people have been detained, or where they were taken into custody.

Women are understood to be among those detained by Home Office enforcement officers in a series of raids this week after being picked to be sent to Rwanda.

Department officials refused to say how many people had been held so far, arguing that ongoing operations prevented them from doing so. They confirmed more than two people had been detained, with both men and women in custody.

Enforcement action is said to have taken place throughout the UK - in England, Wales and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland - since midday on Monday.

Children are not expected to be detained as part of the operations. 

In one video, a team of about six officials – all thought to be from the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement unit – arrive at a terraced house and enter through the front door. 

A female officer is then seen opening an internal door and announcing: 'Immigration.'

A man dressed in dark-checked trousers and a light-coloured hoodie then walks out of the bay-fronted house and steps into the rear of a detention vehicle.

A security grille is then locked behind him.

In a second sequence, officers arrive at another terraced house and then leave with a bearded young man dressed in black trousers and a black hoodie.

The man walks out of the white-rendered property with his hands handcuffed in front of him, and is placed in a van.

The faces of both men were obscured in the videos and the locations of the detentions have not been disclosed.

It is not known at this stage how many people have been held in total.

Meanwhile more than 700 migrants arrived in the UK yesterday after crossing the  - a new record for the year so far.

The Home Office said 711 people made the journey in 14 boats on Wednesday, suggesting an average of 51 people per boat.

It takes the provisional total for the number of arrivals this year so far to 8,278.

Channel crossings had already hit a new record high for the first four months of a calendar year, jumping 34% on 2023 when 6,192 were recorded and up 19% on the total at this stage in 2022 (6,945).

Last year 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

Since the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law after receiving Royal Assent on Thursday last week, 1,611 migrants have made the journey in 32 boats.

The news comes as a migrant boat packed with 66 people on board was rescued off Dieppe trying to cross the Channel - where the stretch of water between France and the UK is at least 65 miles wide.

Men, women and children were on board the vessel when it got into difficulty on Wednesday morning off the coast of the French port.

Dieppe is 70 miles down the coast from Calais and Dunkirk where the vast majority of migrant crossings have been launched, heading to the Kent coast as the Channel is just 21 miles wide.

It is not clear at this stage if the boat had set off from the French coast near Dieppe, despite the greater journey distance, or if it had got lost and veered off course.

Lifeboats were scrambled to find the boat, the French authorities said.

A maritime coastguard vessel then found the stricken vessel and rescued the occupants.

Dozens of migrants made the crossing from the French coast near Calais on Wednesday and were intercepted by British Border Force vessels.

The French Prefecture Maritime said all 66 people were rescued on May 1 and brought them into the port.

In a statement they said the migrants were rescued by the Maritime Gendarmerie's coastal maritime surveillance boat Yser.

'The Yser rescued the boat, which was in difficulty, in the afternoon.

'The crew rescued 66 castaways, including women and children.

'The castaways were then taken to the port of Dieppe where they were taken care of by the land rescue services and the border police', the statement said.